Next-Generation Thinking for Event Leaders.
Meet Michelle Metter — The Cultural Magnet-in-Chief Who’s Redefining How We Gather with Fast Forward Events
The story doesn’t open in a convention hall or on a sunlit vineyard terrace. It begins in a Southern California living room where Michelle Metter’s stepmother treated Sundays like mini galas and Christmas like a Broadway run. Months before the holiday, elaborate miniature villages would appear; tables would be set with obsessive care; music was timed to the moment guests arrived.
“Everything was an occasion,” Metter remembers. “Everything was a moment to create impact.”
For Michelle, that wasn’t just decoration — it was destiny. The impulse to bring people together, to orchestrate an atmosphere, felt cellular. “I think for some of us, the DNA of being in this industry goes way back,” she says. “Even before I knew what an event producer was, I was already one.”
That early training in the art of anticipation — layering sensory cues, building emotional arcs — became her professional DNA. By high school, she was already producing events, like the freshman-year homecoming with a fireworks finale… until the fireworks didn’t go off. At thirteen, she learned that spectacle can collapse in an instant, and that a producer’s real job is managing the silence after the miss.
Her first Top 200 Tradeshow professional arena wasn’t in wine or hospitality, but scuba diving. Leading marketing and sponsorships for DEMA (Diving Equipment and Marketing Association) meant serving a split audience: B2B manufacturers, retailers, and travel operators on one side, and a consumer base whose passions — certification courses, destination travel, gear sales — kept the industry afloat. “It was my first understanding of how an event could be both a marketplace and a movement,” she says.
In those early years, she met Ken Loyst — a seasoned producer with decades of trade show experience, a fine wine collector, and a professional photographer of “mega proportions.” He became an early mentor, showing her how to balance creative ambition with operational discipline. Their bond grew over shared bottles from Ken’s collection, where Michelle discovered a love for wine that went beyond taste — it was about story, place, and connection. That realization became a turning point: she didn’t want to spend her career producing someone else’s vision; she wanted to build a life’s work around passions.
Ken helped open that door, but it was Michelle with Ken’s passion and experience that would define what came next. Together they stepped away from the predictability of the trade show circuit, co-founding Fast Forward with a simple but radical intent: do work they loved, at the highest level possible.
Twenty years ago, that vision took the form of the San Diego Food + Wine Festival. “We knew San Diego was one of the most under-leveraged cities in the U.S. for culinary tourism,” Michelle says. “The food scene was in its infancy, the wine industry was world-class, and the setting was unmatched. It deserved a festival that could put it on the map.”
That first year transformed the bayfront into a sensory playground — white tents rippling in the breeze, the air thick with the scent of grilled prawns and wood smoke, champagne flutes clinking over the hum of the harbor, celebrity chefs brushing shoulders with homegrown talent. Locals came for the party but left talking about wine pairings, chef demos, and the unexpected friendships made in tasting lines and the expansive brand activations. Over time, the event became a national pilgrimage, known for blurring the lines between highbrow and street, tradition and innovation, trade and consumer, festival and summit.
That ability to turn an event into a cultural crossroad is why Michelle is considered a true Culture Magnet. She engineers collisions — sommeliers with film, food festivals with content creator summits, Michelin stars with taco trucks. “Culture happens in the overlaps,” she says. “If we just programmed what was safe, our events would feel static. We want people to leave with stories they couldn’t have gotten anywhere else.”
Her leadership philosophy — evolutionary management — drives both the company and the festival floor. “Culture isn’t a checklist, it’s a chain reaction,” she says. One inspired moment should create curiosity, which leads to another connection, which opens a door to something new. “If we do our jobs right, nothing ever feels finished. The best events — and the best teams — are always one step away from their next big thing.”
Inside Fast Forward, she hires for curiosity and expects her team to bring their own cultural radar and industry expertise into the work. “If you’re not showing me something I don’t already know — whether it’s trending industry data or a TikTok food trend, a street artist, or a sustainability initiative — then we’re not evolving fast enough.” She empowers people to make decisions, but insists that even the wildest creative ideas be delivered intentionally.
Her goosebump moments aren’t just about scale; they’re also about resonance. Like the Monkey Shoulder activation disguised as a row of porta-potties, one hiding a speakeasy. No signage, no promotion — just the electricity of discovery. Or the festival ritual where guests queuing outside are met with music, a champagne sabering, and fresh baguettes before they’ve even stepped inside. “The event starts before you walk in, our team takes a hospitality approach to our events, looking at first and last impressions,” she says.
She’s blunt about the industry’s blind spots. Early on, she questioned the need for separate women’s leadership forums at top industry conferences; now, seeing how much more needs to be done to diversify leadership at the highest levels, she’s a vocal advocate. “There have been incredible strides with women rising to the C-suite however we are still underrepresented,” she says. “Those forums aren’t just about advocacy — they’re about building our network and next generation leaders for our industry.”
Today, Michelle is the unmistakable driver of Fast Forward’s future. Ken’s mentorship and shared passions helped set the course, but she’s now the one steering the company into new terrain — expanding the creative scope of their portfolio of B2B and B2C shows with scale and into new industry sectors, and betting on the cultural and economic rise of experience. “People need joy,” she says. “They need escape. And those B2B and B2C events that connect the dots will be recognized for the value they bring.”
Which brings her back to the stepmother who staged Christmas like an epic. The goosebump moments she chases now — the music, the surprise, the first sip, the last laugh — are the same emotions she grew up watching being orchestrated at home. Only now, she’s building them at scale, with her own vision, her own leadership, and a next-generation playbook that’s entirely hers to write.
WISDOM BANK TAKEAWAYS
Mentorship to Leadership: Ken Loyst provided guidance, let go of ego
and opened doors, but Michelle Metter took initiative to design the vision and leads the charge.
The DNA Factor: For some people, the impulse to convene is part of their wiring — Michelle’s drive to gather and create is deeply rooted.
Follow the Passion: Events should inspire you, it does not matter if it is B2B or B2C, all events should have a soul.
Cultural Crossroads: Events thrive when they mix disciplines, people, and unexpected elements.
Evolutionary Management: One cultural spark should lead to another, creating a chain reaction of curiosity and momentum.
Consumer Events’ Moment Is Coming: She’s betting they’ll soon be valued as highly as the industry’s biggest B2B gatherings